All Questions
21 questions
51
votes
1
answer
8k
views
What is Atiyah's topological formulation of the odd order theorem?
Here is a quote from an article by Daniel Gorenstein on the history of the classification of finite simple groups (available here).
During that year in Harvard, Thompson began his monumental ...
- 2,821
33
votes
3
answers
6k
views
(co)homology of symmetric groups
Let $S_n=\{\text{bijections }[n]\to[n]\}$ be the n-th symmetric group. Its (co)homology will be understood with trivial action. What are the $\mathbb{Z}$-modules $H_k(S_n;\mathbb{Z})$? Using GAP, we ...
- 1,589
29
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Quillen + construction for finite groups
Is there an example of two non isomorphic finite groups $G$ and $H$ such that $BG^{+}$ is homotopy equivalent to $BH^{+}$ ?
- 1,629
17
votes
1
answer
1k
views
A finite 2-group containing the dihedral group of order 16?
The dihedral group $D_{16}$ of order 16 has a presentation $D_{16}= \langle a,t \ | \ a^2=t^8=atat=e\rangle$.
Question: Does there exist a finite 2-group $G$ containing $D_{16}$ as a subgroup, and ...
- 11.1k
17
votes
1
answer
575
views
Group cochains invariant under the action of the symmetric group
Let $G$ be a finite group and $A$ an abelian group. Recall the cochain groups
$$
C^k = \{f: G^k \to A\}
$$
and the coboundary map
$$
\delta : C^k \to C^{k+1}
$$
$$
(\delta f)(g_1, \ldots, ...
- 12.8k
14
votes
0
answers
341
views
Is this class of groups already in the literature or specified by standard conditions?
In recent work
Lifting $N_\infty$ operads from conjugacy data on homotopical combinatorics / $N_\infty$ operads in equivariant homotopy theory, collaborators
Scott Balchin, Ethan MacBrough, and I ...
- 141
13
votes
2
answers
795
views
Which finite groups have low-degree essential cohomology?
Let $G$ be a finite group, $A$ some coefficients (e.g. $A = \mathbb{F}_2$ or $\mathbb{Z}$), and write $\mathrm{H}^\bullet_{\mathrm{gp}}(G; A)$ for the (ordinary) group cohomology of $G$ with ...
- 54.6k
13
votes
0
answers
586
views
Finite groups inside an infinite group with the same homology
Suppose we have a triple of groups $G,H,K$ satisfying the following conditions:
$G$ and $H$ are finite groups and $K$ is an infinite group.
there exist two monomorphisms $G \rightarrow K \leftarrow H$...
- 1,974
10
votes
2
answers
337
views
Finitely dominated universal spaces for the family of solvable subgroups
$\DeclareMathOperator\PSL{PSL}\DeclareMathOperator\Sz{Sz}$In short, I am interested in the question which finite groups $G$ admit a finitely dominated universal space with respect to the family of ...
- 231
9
votes
1
answer
308
views
How small can the support of a nontrivial $\mathbb F_p$-cocycle on $C_p$ be?
Let $p$ be a prime, and let $\phi : C_p^n \to \mathbb F_p$ be an $\mathbb F_p$-valued $n$-cocycle on $C_p$ (the cyclic group of order $p$) which is not an $n$-coboundary, i.e. $\phi$ represents a ...
- 63.9k
8
votes
0
answers
128
views
What are the stable cohomology classes of the "orthogonal groups" of finite abelian groups?
Let $A$ be a finite abelian group, and equip it with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form $\langle,\rangle : A \times A \to \mathrm{U}(1)$. Then you can reasonably talk about the "orthogonal ...
- 54.6k
8
votes
0
answers
238
views
Is there a finite group with nontrivial $H^2$ but vanishing $H^4$, $H^5$, and $H^6$?
Is there a finite group $G$ such that the group cohomology $\mathrm{H}^2_{\mathrm{gp}}(G; \mathbb{Z}/2)$ is nontrivial but $\mathrm{H}^4_{\mathrm{gp}}(G; \mathbb{Z}/2)$, $\mathrm{H}^5_{\mathrm{gp}}(G;...
- 54.6k
8
votes
0
answers
204
views
Relationship between the p-radical subgroups and the parabolics in a BN-pair generality
A theorem of Quillen says that if $G$ is a finite Chevalley group over characteristic $p$, then the poset $\mathcal{A}_p(G)$ of nontrivial elementary abelian subgroups of $G$ is homotopy equivalent (I ...
- 1,726
7
votes
2
answers
494
views
How does the Steenrod algebra act on $\mathrm{H}^\bullet(p^{1+2}_+, \mathbb{F}_p)$?
Let $p$ be an odd prime. The $\mathbb F_p$ cohomology of the cyclic group of order $p$ is well-known: $\mathrm{H}^\bullet(C_p, \mathbb F_p) = \mathbb F_p[\xi,x]$ where $\xi$ has degree 1, $x$ has ...
- 54.6k
6
votes
1
answer
422
views
A finite p-group question: can this happen?
Let all groups here be finite $p$--groups.
Given $K<H$, let $r(K,H)$ be the smallest $r$ such that there exists a chain of subgroups $K=L_0 \lhd L_1 \lhd \cdots \lhd L_r = H$, such that each $L_i/...
- 11.1k
6
votes
2
answers
749
views
Explicit computation of the Burnside ring
I would like to see explicit computations of the Burnside ring $A(G)$ when $G$ is a small Abelian group, such as $G=\mathbb{Z}/2,\mathbb{Z}/2^n,\mathbb{Z}/p^n$ where $p$ is an odd prime and $n\...
- 3,173
5
votes
1
answer
428
views
Centralizers in the universal central extensions of the alternating groups?
For $n \ge 8$ the Schur multiplier $H_2(BA_n, \mathbb{Z})$ (where $A_n$ denotes the alternating group) stabilizes to $\mathbb{Z}_2$, and hence there is a universal central extension $\widetilde{A}_n$ ...
- 118k
5
votes
1
answer
384
views
Which groups have undetectable third U(1)-cohomology?
Let $G$ be a finite group. A categorical Schur detector for $G$ is a set $\mathcal{S}$ of proper subgroups $S \subsetneq G$ such that the total restriction map
$$ \mathrm{rest}_{\mathcal{S}} : \mathrm{...
- 54.6k
4
votes
0
answers
135
views
Exotic 2-adic lifts of mod $2$ Steinberg idempotent
Denote $B_n$ the Borel subgroup of $Gl_n(Z/2)$, i.e., the subgroup of
upper triangular matrices, $\Sigma _n$ the subgroup of permutation matrices.
The (conjugate) Steinberg idempotent is defined to be ...
- 3,051
2
votes
1
answer
457
views
Classification of finite HNN-extensions of a finite group with respect to an isomorphism between cyclic subgroups
Given the data of a triple $(G,h,k)$ where $G$ is a finite group, and $h,k\in G$ of the same order which together generate $G$, I'm interested in understanding the possible pairs $(i,\alpha)$, where $...
- 10.7k
1
vote
0
answers
275
views
Explicitly showing that a free group is LERF [closed]
Let $F$ be a free group on a finite set $X$, and let $M$ be a finitely generated subgroup.
Marshall Hall's theorem states that $M$ is closed in the profinite topology on $F$. That is, $M$ is the ...
- 11.3k